CCOO has reorganized the strike in passenger road transport and has called off the day scheduled for this Thursday, but maintains the rest of the announced calendar, which includes December 9 and the 23rd of the same month, after which it will become indefinite.
CCOO assured this Wednesday in a statement that it is moving forward with the mobilizations and only suspends the strike day this Thursday "that was set in another scenario", keeping the rest of the communicated dates in force, to which it will add the new actions that it will announce shortly, among which it contemplates new strike calls.
This announcement comes after CGT called off its strike calendar this past Tuesday, which coincided with that of CCOO, to demand early retirement for drivers, similar to that recently achieved by groups such as forest firefighters, without suffering economic cuts.
CCOO has explained that the strike in the road transport sector was called jointly by CCOO and UGT, with an agreed calendar and a joint strike committee, and with different activities involved (freight transport, self-propelled cranes, health transport, passenger and urban transport).
Some of these activities reached an agreement to request the start of the reduced coefficient file (freight transport, self-propelled cranes and health transport) and UGT withdrew from the strike in passenger and urban transport.
CCOO considers it necessary to reorganize the mobilization "with a call more adjusted to reality, sustainable over time and viable for those who share the need for a real and effective agreement to request the advancement of the retirement age."
According to the trade union organization, the current situation "is summarized in breaches by the rest of the signatories of the freight transport agreement, since the request has not yet been made to the competent body."
It has recalled that the commitment was signed on October 24 and the execution period was 20 days.
On the other hand, the agreement reached between Confebus and UGT in passenger and urban transport does not guarantee the presentation of the application for reduced coefficients.
The "demand and immobility" of Confebus to make the request with a new regulation is difficult to understand, unless it hides promises or commitments by which the administration rejects the application of coefficients in this activity, because otherwise the non-acceptance of a deadline to carry it out with the regulations that existed at that time is not understood, he nuanced.
According to CCOO, passenger and urban transport is subject to the economic interests of the companies Alsa and Avanza, which are the ones that directly control the Confebus employers' association and indirectly the urban and metropolitan public transport association Atuc.
The latter, despite representing the public transport companies of the main Spanish cities, puts the dictates of Confebus first.
Reasons for the negotiation blockade
The blockade of the negotiation lies, on the one hand, in Confebus's confidence that the new regulations contemplate greater requirements that make it impossible for bus drivers to access the coefficients and, on the other hand, in the interest of the large public transport concessionaires so that the additional cost involved in applying reduced coefficients is not paid by them and they are compensated by the Administration.
In this way, "their huge profits will be increased with all the cost savings that the lower remuneration of people who access the sector entails, by not having to make effective the remuneration concepts based on the seniority of the workers in the companies, which, at a minimum, represent 60% of the salary," he detailed.
They will also save costs due to a lower incidence of temporary disabilities of elderly people, added CCOO.
CCOO has called on the city councils of the large cities of Spain and the Ministry of Transport "to protect the process and not leave the resolution of the conflict, as until now, in the hands of Alsa and Avanza."
The concessionaires continue to charge the same for the concession, even though their workers are on strike and do not provide the service, the organization stated.
CGT
For its part, CGT has pointed out that, given the limited follow-up of the strike and the enormous effort that has fallen on its membership, it has made the decision to call off the planned stoppages, but has stressed that "it is not a surrender, but a strategic step back."
"The union has said that it needs to rearm itself and work to reunify the sector in a single voice," after other unions decided to accept "the rules of the dirty game proposed by the Government and Social Security and enter hand in hand with our executioners and exploiters to request the reduced coefficients."
